CORN FEST

If good food, good music and a good time are on your to-do list don't miss the Annual Corn Fest at the historic eight-sided, one-room Charter Oak School the first Saturday in August. The Randolph County Historical Society prepares a feast of fried chicken, sliced tomatoes, all you can eat corn on the cob (on-site), Indian Corn Pudding, ice cream, and beverage. Serving begins at 4 p.m. and lasts until 7 or earlier if the food runs out first. The festivities include period music, school tours, and a country store with fresh home baked goods, home canned goods and fresh garden produce available for purchase. Charter Oak School is located at 9272 SCHULINE ROAD, SCHULINE, IL 62286.

Volunteers are needed and welcome. Anyone available to shuck corn? Shucking commences at 9 am at the Schoolhouse grounds. Musicians are welcome to join the jam and entertain during serving hours. Please bring a chair.

The Corn Fest is believed to come from a similar ceremony practiced by the Cherokee, Seminole and Creek Indians at the new moon of the vernal equinox. The purpose was to thank the Great Spirit for past blessings and ask for blessings in the coming year. The Indian Corn Pudding is made from an authenticated recipe and has a similar taste to pumpkin. Served now primarily as a dessert, pioneers ate the pudding as a snack or light lunch between meals.

Charter Oak School is one of the few remaining octagonal one-room schools still standing in the United States and the only known example in Illinois. When built, the school represented the latest in architectural design. Daniel Ling, a Michigan schoolteacher, designed the building with windows on 8 sides to offer better interior lighting and wind resistance during storms. School was held in the one-room schoolhouse from 1873 until 1953 when it closed due to consolidation. After it closed a former teacher purchased the building and began a local effort to restore it. The school was then purchased by the Randolph County Historical Society in 1970 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Corn Fest is the largest fundraiser for the Randolph County Historical Society. No federal, state or local government funding is received for the properties in their care, and 100% of all monies donated go towards the conservation and preservation of the Charter Oak School.

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